Trump: Japanese mogul pledges $50 billion US investment
WASHINGTON (AP) — After meeting
with Donald Trump on Tuesday, Japanese tech billionaire Masayoshi Son
said he will invest $50 billion in the United States and would "commit"
to creating 50,000 new jobs over an unspecified time period.
Son is the founder and chief executive of SoftBank,
one of Japan's largest technology outfits, which owns the U.S. mobile
carrier Sprint. Sprint shares initially spiked after the announcement.
Son left Trump Tower after being escorted down the elevator by the
president-elect, who touted the pledge before waiting investors.
The announcement is the latest instance in which
Trump appears to be conducting economic policy via ad-hoc deal-making —
sometimes taking credit whether he deserves it or not. Last week, the
president-elect spoke at the Carrier furnace plant in Indianapolis after
the company announced plans to keep 800 jobs at the plant instead of
outsourcing them to Mexico. Trump quickly claimed he had saved those
positions, even though the company is still shifting more than 1,000
jobs from that factory and another Indiana plant to Mexico.
Similarly, the week after the election Trump tweeted
that he had dissuaded Ford Motor Co. from moving a Kentucky factory to
Mexico. The claim was a stretch; Ford had no plans to move the plant and
had already agreed to keep producing one specific model there, although
it did back away from a plan to shift production of the Lincoln MKC, a
small SUV, from Louisville to Cuautitlan, Mexico.
Trump quickly took credit for Son's commitment on
Tuesday, writing on Twitter: "Masa said he would never do this had we
(Trump) not won the election!"
"I just came to celebrate his new job," Son said. "I said, 'This is great, the U.S. will become great again'."
Trump plans to meet with leading tech executives next
week, a group that will include venture capitalist Peter Thiel — one of
Trump's few supporters in Silicon Valley — and Cisco Systems CEO Chuck
Robbins. The job commitments that Trump claims to have produced are
symbolically resonant. Still, the economy has generated 2.25 million new
jobs in the past 12 months and many economists say that accelerating
this pace may be difficult in the long run because of the aging U.S.
population.
Financial details about Son's commitment and its
timeframe remain unclear. Softbank and T-Mobile did not answer emailed
questions. Sprint spokesman Dave Tovar referred questions to Softbank.
Foxconn, a tech manufacturer that makes iPhones for Apple in China, also
did not answer questions. Its logo was next to Softbank's on a piece of
paper Son carried.
Sprint has struggled since its 2013
acquisition by Softbank. The carrier's attempt to join with rival
T-Mobile failed in 2014 after regulators objected to combining two of
the four largest mobile telecom companies in the United States. T-Mobile
has surpassed Sprint to become the No. 3 carrier, while Sprint has
struggled with cost cuts and layoffs. (AT&T and Verizon are the
largest wireless carriers.)
Analysts have predicted, however, that a
Trump-led Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission would
be more likely to allow telecom mergers , including a deal between
Sprint and T-Mobile. T-Mobile has 50,000 employees and a stock-market
value of $46 billion — but the similarities between those numbers and
Son's commitment could just be a coincidence.
In October, SoftBank announced that it would
establish a $25 billion fund for technology investments that could grow
to $100 billion. SoftBank said it signed an agreement with a fund run by
the government of Saudi Arabia and other investors.
In
addition to Sprint, SoftBank owns Britain's ARM Holdings. ARM is known
as an innovator in the "internet of things," and in technology used in
smartphones. It also sells the Pepper human-shaped companion robot for
homes and businesses, and runs a solar energy business in Japan. The
company, founded in 1981, also has within its investment empire
financial technology and ride-booking services.
